Category Archives: sketches

Explore the Widsy Waddle! For Illustration Friday

Explore the Widsy Waddle! Steed Rental
9″ x 6″ Copic Markers, fine liners, white gel pen, digital text

For the topic “Explore” at Illustration Friday.

I started off with a giant bird but got frustrated with the wings and went back to my old standby, the horse beast! I was going to put a fairy or some other humanoid on his back but then I thought about my imaginary advertisements like Llama Genie Airships and the Elephant Shrew Urn.

Now that I’ve got a handful of these I should do a series. And then a book! Alternatively, I could build on all my creatures who live in the Wonder Woods, merge the advertisements into the same world, and write a historical document and/or  book!

It’s fun coming up with potentially original, commercial ideas! Doing them, on the other hand – much more tricky!

Progress pics below.  (Hmm, I should add a shadow at his feet.)  Please feel free to leave a note, and thanks for dropping in!

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Chimeric Rabbit for Illustration Friday

Chimeric Rabbit
8″ x 7″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

Well, it started as a cat stretching for Illustration Friday‘s topic “Stretch”. Then she got a sort of foxy prehensile tale, rabbity ears and some lizard scales. It’s a rather half-hearted stretch (or her eyes would be closed or her neck would be stretched). She doesn’t get much in the way of stiff muscles, being magical and stuff.

I did a bit of messing around with the color sliders, and got this purple and olive version, which I prefer to the original:

Chimeric Rabbit, original Copic illustration with colors changed digitally

Thanks for visiting! Lots of progress pics below.

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Sugar Skull Girls and Arlo Dog ATCs

Four Calavera Girl ATCs
Each 2.5′ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners on Bristol board.

These were made for a Sugar Skull Girls Swap at atcsforall.com. I am not sure whether to call them Sugar Skull girls or Calavera girls (calavera means skull in Spanish). I think it is the same thing, but someone please tell me if I am wrong! This face painting style is done in celebration of The Day of the Dead. They are also fun to do!

I’ve actually done some other work that I really want to post, but that stuff was made for a secret santa swap at illustratedatcs, so I cannot post them until the recipients have received them. Arrrgh!

Arlo Dog ATC
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

Arlo Dog is a minor warlock specializing in the removal of drawing-block. He has a sister named Astrid who specializes in the removal of writer’s block. Their mother can do a little of both, though less reliably.

In fact he did help me get over a couple days worth of drawing block funk, mostly. I’m hoping this week’s topic at Illustration Friday, “Tree”, will help too!

Thanks for stopping in! Tons of progress pics below.

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Shy Goat and a Little House for Illustration Friday

Shy Goat and Little House, 5″ x 7″ on toned paper
Copics, fine liners and white gel pen.

For the topic “Shy” at Illustration Friday. Initially the goat was going to be peeking out of a barn or from behind a tree or something, but it wasn’t working. Then I decided I would do another little house, but less spooky, because people seem to like the little houses. Now the goat is peeking from the frame of the scene, and I suppose that still works. ;)

It also occurred to me that perhaps once in a while I should cut out the long-winded rambling, so that’s it for today! Thanks for dropping in!

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Goat reference photo. (His name is Gilbert!)

Haunt for Illustration Friday, and Captain Nemo

Haunty House, 6″ x 9″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

The topic is Haunt at Illustration Friday. I decided to try a larger version of my little spook house ATCs. It doesn’t actually have much more detail than the tinier size, but I do like the vulture! Also, I forgot the “Keep Out” sign. Dangit.

Three Spooky House ATCs, Copics

The other thing I did this weekend is this Captain Nemo ATC, for a Steam-Powered swap at illustratedatcs.com. To remind those who aren’t familiar, an ATC is an Artist Trading Card, sized 2.5″ x 3.5″, and usually traded from one artist to another. The sites I belong to are atcsforall, which is for everyone, and illustratedatcs, which is a juried site for folks with a fair amount of experience. They are both great! And also responsible for a lot of art and inspiration in the last few months.

Captain Nemo ATC
2.5″ x 3.5″ Pencil, Copics, fine liners

 

Captain Nemo is the result of about 1.5 months worth of stressing over having to produce a kind of a portrait of an actual person. But in the end I chose Captain Nemo because instead of a portrait of one of the actors who played the character, his unique outfit really helps determine who it is. (Also the little nameplate I added helps!)

It is a relief to finally have him done, much of his face left in pencil because I didn’t want to destroy it with a stray pen line. When I started him I never thought I’d end up with anything approaching a decent face (the first sketch in the progress set below came after a lot of restarts and erasing), but I kept at it, which is all you can do. :)

Progress pics below. Thank you so much for stopping in!

Oh! One more note! I have a blog pal called Moonsword who finds cool art all over the interwebs and posts about them. He is having a giveaway for a $25 Etsy gift certificate. Go leave a comment on this post and you’ll be entered to win!

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Beneath the Zombie Sky, Undead Dogs and Cats

Sometimes I want to post something that doesn’t go with the Illustration Friday topic. So I have to create a new thing that combines the thing I wanted to post with the weekly topic. Today I wanted to post the zombie cats and dogs I made this weekend for the Halloween-a-thon at illustratedatcs.com.

But the word at Illustration Friday is sky. So, I fooled around in paint.NET and ended up with the Infected Pet Kennel, giving guided tours nightly during a green zombie sky.

Zombie Dog and Zombie Gearhead Dog
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen, white pencil

I am not a zombie person but I thought I would do one because people seem to like zombies a lot! And I thought, well maybe a dog zombie. Anyway, as you may have guessed it was super fun and then I made some more. :)

Zombie Cat and Zombie Gearhead Cat
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen, white pencil

And then I couldn’t even trade them. But I am going to make a print of the four of them. And I am thinking about a metallic ACEO print set (my first)!

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Cats and Spooky Houses for Halloween

Lydia with Pumpkins, Moon Cat, & Cat with Pumpkin
Eaxh 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners on smooth Bristol board.

Here is Lydia, a bright but mischievous youngster. She likes to scare the other kittens by waiting in dark corners in order to POUNCE when least expected. Some of them don’t appreciate it quite so much, and she should probably expect a little retribution one of these days.

Sylfaen the Moon Cat travels the night roads of the world, following the Autumn moon. Her true purpose is hidden, though some say she will hasten death in kindness for men and beasts who have suffered fatal wounds.

The last fellow is Tom, a very tall and wily tomcat. He doesn’t say much but can yowl with the best of ’em.

Two Almost Spooky Houses
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, etc on smooth Bristol

These ATCs were all done over one weekend for a Halloween-a-thon. It was was fun! But a tad exhausting despite the fact it was my choice how much to participate. I am of the opinion that all drawing helps improve us so hooray for an exhausting weekend.

You guys, I am going to try making pendants soon with some of my favorite ATC images. If you have any glass tile pendant notes, please feel free to leave them here! (I decided to start with glass tiles instead of resin because it’s easier and I don’t have to worry about fumes!) Thanks so much for visiting!

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Steampunk Maiden and Christmas Cat

Georgie Gears ATC
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

Despite being raised with six brothers, Georgie was always the one their father came to for help with the family tractor. No one was surprised when she went on to found her own airship engineering company. Reference photo.

Made for a steampunk swap at illustratedatcs.com. I am very pleased with the style of this one. On the one hand it’s a rather typical “pretty girl” image. But I think she has some charm and personality. And I’m sure my 100 Maidens Project made a difference. I recommend these projects – repeated practice with a particular subject.

Nikolas the Christmas Cat
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

Nikolas wasn’t always a Christmas cat. At ten months old he ate some tinsel and that soured him on the whole subject for several years. But then he found his person – a woman named Lizzie living firmly in the spirit of Christmas six months of the year – so Nikolas gave it another shot. It was much better the second time. Made for a trade at illustratedatcs.com.

It’s very odd the number of cats and sheep I have been doing! I am a dog person. But I’ve gotten the most trade requests for cats and sheep, so I’ve gotten a bit quicker at them. But it’s still several hours each. Or more.

I’m going to try my hand at glass tile pendants with prints of my images, and these two are on the list. We’ll see how it goes! Thanks for dropping in!

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A World in a Drop of Water, for Illustration Friday

Drop of Water World, 6″ x 9″
Copics, fine liners, gel pen, pencil with digital background

My entry for this week’s Illustration Friday topic “Water” is based on a misquote. Here is the first stanza from “Auguries of Innocence” by William Blake:

To see the world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.

The rest has some mighty depressing imagery which has no place at my blog! But you can look it up if you like. Thanks for stopping in!

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Woodland Creatures ATCs, in Copics

Basilisk Lizard, A Master of Zen
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copic markers, fine liners, white gel pen

I have to admit I am very fond of George. He was going to get a tree or a fern leaf, but I decided not to risk mucking up his Zen space. He does meditation most evenings. I almost abandoned this card (like many other half-sketched images recently!) but I told myself it would work out. And it did! Possibly my best one yet. I would keep it, except I’ve been keeping too many lately and besides, I have to mail it off tomorrow!

A few weeks ago I made the fox (a different style than my other foxes, though I’m not sure my rudimentary hatching went as well as I’d like), and also the elephant shrew. Photo references are usually linked at the bottom of my posts. I use photos as guidelines and try to make the drawing very different.

Alastaire Fox ATC
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

Alastaire is a forest elder and renowned peacemaker. Feuding foxes accept his judgement on a variety of matters from kit-rearing to boundary agreements.

Giant Elephant Shrew ATC
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

Unlike her hyper brother Alec, Francesca is shy around strangers. All bets are off once you get to know her, however, because then she’ll chatter at you for hours. Mostly about shrews or bugs. But once in a while, if she’s in a strange mood, about the circle of life.

All three Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) were made for the Woodland Creatures swap at illustratedatcs.com. Thank you for visiting!

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Basilisk lizard photo reference, fox photo reference, giant elephant shrew photo reference.